Author: Debbie
#ARWB Holiday Food, Fun and Family Link-Up
Sunday Link-Up {Nov. 27, 2016}
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Debbie Michael: Tuscan Brisket
These cold wintery days always give me a craving for comfort food. Usually my inspiration for a recipe comes from ingredients that are seasonal or on-hand available, and this recipe is no different. Our local grocery store was having a sale on whole brisket so I thought, ” Let’s see what comfort food I could create using this it of meat.”
Unwrapping the whole brisket, my first challenge was the realization that this was a huge hunk of untrimmed meat. I wasn’t sure where to begin so I stared at it and decided to call on Paul to trim the brisket. He does such a good job cleaning our deer I figured the principles for the cow couldn’t be much different.
Here is what the piece of meat looked like….yours will be a lot like this if you choose to buy a whole brisket. If I was preparing this again I would buy an already trimmed one because so much fat came off. That was a lot of weight that I paid for to just throw away. I also think I might have trimmed a little too much off. Here’s a picture of the whole brisket. That top part is called the fat cap. It is usually at least 1/2″ thick and I removed most of the cap.
When Paul finished with the brisket we ended up with two pieces. The A or “flat” piece is used for corned beef, pastrami and meat-market trimmed brisket. The B or “point” is much thinner and the grain runs in a different direction. I saved it for a later recipe.
Paul and I went to New Orleans for the New Year in 2015 and enjoyed the most amazing Tuscan pork rib recipe prepared by our brother-in-law, Mike. That recipe was my inspiration for this brisket.
After the meat was trimmed, I combined all the ingredients below to make a dry rub. I then place the brisket in a zip lock bag for about 24 hours.
Debbie Michael: Tuscan Brisket
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon(s) extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoon(s) chopped rosemary leaves
- 1 1/2 tablespoon(s) kosher salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoon(s) fennel seeds
- 2 teaspoon(s) freshly ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoon(s) chopped sage
- 2 teaspoons chopped thyme
- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoons crushed red pepper
- 1 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
- Add the glaze of balsamic at the end
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, preferably one aged for at least 5 years
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- If you have a convection oven use that setting for approximately 20 min. You want the top to sear. You can also accomplish that task with a cast iron skillet.
- Cover and lower heat to 325*. Cook for 2 hours.
- At the very end, brush with the balsamic
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I used our fantastic real Portuguese porcelain deep platter serve ware to bake the brisket. Our entire family loves to cook and entertain but have always found it hard to find the large size bakeware and serving pieces it takes when we all get together. On a buying trip to Europe we found this company that were the manufacturers of this real porcelain. It bakes beautifully and I love the way my recipes just look so professionally presented in them. Check out all the styles in our stores.
Below are some shots of the finished product. Check the cooking time because depending upon the thickness of the meat it will vary. It was delicious. The leftovers we will turn into BBQ sandwiches for another night.
